1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to treating a porous media, such as membrane. In particular, the present invention relates to an assembly for supporting a porous media during a treatment which exposes the media to a fluid that is adapted to modify at least one property of the media.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 7,534,471 is directed to a process for modifying at least one property of a porous media. A disclosed process includes the steps of providing a porous media and exposing the media to a fluid at supercritical conditions. At least one property of the media is modified while the media is exposed to the fluid. The fluid passes through the media after the media formed into a roll on a perforate core support. The fluid flows from within the core support and transaxially through the rolled media. Bands are applied to the ends of the rolled media in order to prevent leaks from the ends of the roll. Bands are applied to only an outside layer of the roll.
When processing a roll having a relatively large length of material, a relatively large outer diameter, or both, the porous media may be subjected to non-uniform radial treatment within the roll. An example is a resulting relatively higher oil repellency performance for media closest to the perforated core and relatively lower repellency for media furthest from the core. It is believed that this is caused by inconsistent compression from the bands when applied to larger diameter rolls. This inconsistency may be allowing treatment solutions to leak out the ends of the rolled porous medicine.
There is a desire to treat larger rolls having higher lengths, larger diameters, or both, without applying inconsistent compression from the bands.